Are Youth Different?

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Analyses of the political and economic attitudes of the “Nazarbayev generation” (aged 18-29) reveal the ways that young Kazakhstanis are distinct from older generations. Young people are more accepting of material inequality and less likely to make demands on the welfare state in favor of the poor and unemployed. They are also less likely to be troubled by nepotism and family rule. When compared to those who were socialized prior to the consolidation of presidential power, the Nazarbayev generation more closely reflects the values that underlie Kazakhstan’s personalist regime and the practices and policies associated with it.